Massachusetts College Student Arrests And Disciplinary Hearings

Massachusetts has been called “The College Capital of the Nation,” and it’s an accurate title. For many college students, their time here represents some of the best days of their lives, with much time spent meeting new friends, partying, dating, and making plans for a positive future.

But as a Massachusetts college student crimes defense lawyer, I have also seen the ‘other side’ of that coin: Specifically, the multitude of criminal law problems that college and university students can suddenly find themselves faced with at many Massachusetts colleges and universities. And it’s not a pretty sight: No particular universities are immune to such problems, either; the Ivy League schools are no more exempt than the community colleges, when it comes to college student crimes and student legal offenses. Being accused of or charged with a crime can be a terrifying experience for a young person, especially if he or she is far away from home and family.

If you’re a Massachusetts college student or graduate school student and have been accused of a crime, or are being investigated for a crime regardless of whether it allegedly occurred on campus or off, your next steps are going to be extremely important: Do NOT wait for the situation to unfold before securing an experienced Massachusetts college student defense attorney: If you wait, the situation will likely take control over you – instead of you controlling it. If you’ve been charged with a criminal offense as a university student or are being investigated for some offense, you may be facing both the criminal court process as well as a university disciplinary hearing process. Whether it’s one or both of these, in order to avoid serious consequences on both fronts, you need to retain the very best Massachusetts student crimes defense law firm that you can. Being convicted of a crime as a college or graduate student can seriously harm your future. For a free case consultation, call our college student defense lawyers at Ph.: (781) 320-0062 or Ph.: (617) 285-3600, or email us by clicking here and we will set up an appointment to speak with you. We usually don’t like to use slang, but for the purpose of protecting your legal interests, we urge you: Don’t “mess around” when it comes to retaining the best Massachusetts student defense attorney that you can: Your future is too important. Call us or email us, and we can begin the process of protecting you legally.

Importantly, it’s not just American kids who can face legal problems on campus. As a Boston area student arrest defense attorney, I represent a number of foreign students who can unfortunately find themselves facing either disciplinary action before a university, or facing formal legal charges in court by a District Attorney’s Office. This can be scary enough for a young person who is attending school here from another state, but it is even more frightening if that student is from another country.

What kinds of crimes can occur on Massachusetts college campuses? Just about any criminal activity that can occur anywhere else, including:

• Student Assault and Battery Charges
• Student Drug Possession/Drug Distribution Offenses
• Student Sex Assault Crimes and Rape/Date Rape on Campus
• College Student OUI/DUI Charges
• Underage Drinking Charges
• College Student Theft Crimes and Larceny of Student Property
• Traffic and Motor Vehicle Violations
• Stalking and Harassment Charges
• Shoplifting Charges
• Vandalism & Destruction of Personal Property Charges
• Even Murder charges.

The cold, hard truth is that Massachusetts colleges and universities are a microcosm of society in general: Anything that can happen on the outside of a college campus, can happen on the inside. When you add in multiple contributing factors of youthful indiscretion, alcohol, drugs, students being away from home for the first time and a “hook-up” culture that exists on many campuses, all kinds of legal offenses can and do take place – and it’s easy to see how and why. I’ve represented many Massachusetts college students who are good individuals and who come from good families, yet can become accused of a variety of Massachusetts sex crimes or Massachusetts drug crimes. If these accusations and charges aren’t aggressively and successfully defeated, a young person who is otherwise a solid individual with good moral character can have his or her future derailed. That’s where my firm steps in: We won’t let that happen on our watch.

If you’re a Massachusetts college student facing some type of criminal charge or a university disciplinary proceeding, I welcome the opportunity to help protect you through this process. Call us at Ph.: (781) 320-0062 or Ph.: (617) 285-3600, or email us by clicking here. Someone will get back to you very quickly to set up an intake interview.

University students who are convicted of a Massachusetts criminal offense while in college or graduate school, can face serious life consequences as a result: A criminal conviction can defeat the main purpose of attending college, which is to demonstrate to employers and graduate schools that you are a person of good moral character, who is worthy of either being hired by an employer, or of being accepted into a graduate school program. A record of a criminal conviction can cast all that into doubt – and those are just the “ripple” effects of a criminal conviction. The primary effects include:

• Potential jail or prison sentence
• Having a Criminal Record
• Probation
• Fines
• Suspension of driver’s license
• Difficulty in Securing Desired Professional Employment

Court prosecutions aren’t the only risk posed to college students who are accused of some type of wrongdoing. If the matter that the student is accused of is not prosecuted by the courts, but is instead handled internally by the school’s Disciplinary Hearings process, equally serious consequences can result, including:

• Expulsion from the university or suspension
• Expulsion From or Loss of campus housing
• Loss of Scholarships and/or Financial Aid
• Mandated Psychological Counseling or Rehabilitative Classes
• Written Reprimand or Written Warning on the Student’s Academic Record

MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE STUDENT DEFENSE ATTORNEYS

Do not allow a college criminal accusation to ruin the rest of your life. If you are a Massachusetts college or graduate student and you have either been accused of a crime or are being investigated by either police or school authorities for an incident that occurred either on campus or off, call the Massachusetts college student defense lawyers at the Law Offices of William D. Kickham & Associates for a free consultation, at either ph.: (781) 320-0062 or Ph.(617) 285-3600, or email us here online. Whether you have been accused of a misdemeanor offense or a felony offense, the stakes for you are very high. Don’t take unnecessary chances with your future: Contacting an expert Boston student crimes attorney is the smartest move you can make right now.

At the Law Offices of William D. Kickham & Associates, our Massachusetts college student defense lawyers will aggressively defend you in court and provide representation and defense before internal college or university disciplinary hearings. Defending college and graduate students accused of criminal offenses, as well as Massachusetts college student conduct violations, requires a very unique set of legal skills and experience. That’s one of the reasons that make our firm so effective and well-known.

The unfortunate fact is that many internal college and university disciplinary hearings are little more than second or third-rate “investigations,” often poorly executed, and conducted procedurally with little regard for students’ substantive legal rights. Many university “disciplinary hearings officers” never even went to law school, never mind aren’t licensed attorneys, or state court judges. For example, much evidence recovered by campus police may not even be admissible in court against you. And saying the wrong thing to these “investigators” and “hearings officers,” without the benefit of an experienced Massachusetts college student defense lawyer by your side, can result in lifelong consequences.

We represent undergraduate and graduate students at many Massachusetts colleges and universities, including (but not limited to) the following schools:

• Amherst College
• Babson College
• Bay State College
• Bentley College
• Boston College
• Boston University
• Brandeis University
• Endicott College
• Emerson University
• Fisher College
• Harvard University
• Harvard Business School
• Lasalle College
• Massachusetts College of Pharmacy
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Pine Manor College
• Simmons College
• Wheelock University
• UMass/Boston
• UMass/Amherst
• Suffolk University
• Northeastern University
• Wentworth Institute of Technology

If you’re a Massachusetts college or university student who has been arrested by police or accused of some type of Massachusetts college campus offense, call Attorney Kickham at Ph.: (781) 320-0062 or at Ph.: (617) 285-3600. As an experienced Massachusetts college student defense lawyer, Attorney Kickham is extremely skilled at defending Massachusetts college campus student offenses, and has a proven track record of success in defending students accused of Massachusetts college disciplinary charges. Or click here to email us and someone from our office will get right back to you.

Attorney Kickham provides his potential clients with a FREE initial consultation of up to 20 minutes. He also makes “house calls” -- this means that he will travel to your dorm, apartment or home to meet with you, even at night and on weekends. (That’s not something that most law firms offer.) Of course, all such communications with our office are confidential, and are not communicated to anyone else – not even to the student’s parents, if that is what the student wishes. Attorney Kickham is very experienced at defending Massachusetts college campus discipline cases and his professional biography shows why he is so successful at defending these types of cases.

Right now, click here to receive our FREE ARTICLE entitled, “The Top 10 Things To Do After You Are Arrested In Massachusetts For A Crime.” This article is filled with important tips that you might not otherwise know. It can help you determine the action steps you need to take right now, if you have been arrested by college campus police or been accused by college officials with some type of prohibited campus conduct. This document will help to steer you on the right course to securing the best legal defense possible.

If you recognize Attorney Kickham’s name, it’s probably because you’ve seen him on television or have seen his name quoted prominently in newspapers. William D. Kickham is frequently sought out for his legal expertise and analysis on Massachusetts college campus offenses by several newspapers, TV and radio stations. These media outlets include, among others, Court TV (now In Session on HLN,) Fox News TV-25/Boston, The Boston Herald, WBZ-AM Radio 1030, WCVB-TV5/Boston, Nightside With Dan Rea, Greater Boston With Emily Rooney, Money Matters Radio/Boston, and The Metro Newspaper/ Boston. The media calls upon Attorney William Kickham because they know he is an expert in the field of Massachusetts criminal defense law.

That’s something you should consider as you decide who to hire as your Massachusetts college student defense attorney.